SEWARD, Neb. – Fresh off wrapping up a 2-1 home win over MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.), the Concordia University men’s soccer team is preparing for two road trips this week. The Bulldogs will be at McPherson College (Kan.) on Wednesday in a rematch of a 2018 clash in Seward prior to heading to Aberdeen, S.D., for their GPAC opener on Saturday. Head coach Jason Weides’ squad enters the week at 3-0.
This Week
Wednesday, Sept. 11 at McPherson (2-1), 7:30 p.m.
-Live Webcast/Stats: Stretch Internet
Saturday, Sept. 14 at Presentation (1-2, 0-1), 3:30 p.m.
-Live Coverage: http://www.pcsaints.com/schedule/0/6.php
The schedule has been a bit disjointed to this point. This will be the first time this season that Concordia has had more than one game in a week. However, the results have been about as good as Weides could have hoped for. The Bulldogs own wins over Oklahoma City University, 2-0, York College, 3-0, and MidAmerica Nazarene. The 2019 squad is the fourth during Weides’ 12-year head coaching tenure to begin a campaign at 3-0. The others were the 2012, 2015 and 2017 teams. The 2015 edition won the GPAC tournament title while the 2017 group owns the program record for wins in a season with 16.
Last week this team showed it could handle some adversity. For the first time this season, Concordia faced a deficit when it went down 1-0 versus MidAmerica Nazarene. It also lost senior center back Evan Hayden to an injury not long after the opening kickoff. The Bulldogs adjusted on the fly and later erased the deficit with a goal apiece from David Carrasco and Moises Jacobo. Their exploits helped Concordia claim a win over a Pioneer program that reached the NAIA national championship game in 2015.
Carrasco became the sixth different Bulldog to find the back of the net this season while Jacobo became the first to net multiple goals on the season. The results through three games continue a recent trend of balanced goal scoring within the program. There are plenty of candidates on this year’s squad to emerge as a leading goal scorer, including freshman Isaiah Shaddick, who has moved into the starting role. Of course goalkeeper Eduardo Alba and company hope to continue to limit opposing goals as well they have so far.
Concordia will play McPherson for the fourth time during Weides’ tenure. The result last season was a 3-2 Bulldog victory in overtime. Also nicknamed the Bulldogs, McPherson is coming off a 5-2 victory over Doane on Sept. 7. Sean Thomson put two away in the back of the net in that victory. McPherson went 8-8-3 last season.
Presentation experienced a rough go in 2018, its first season as a soccer only GPAC member. The Saints went 0-18 overall (0-11 GPAC). Presentation put an end to its losing streak with a 9-2 victory over Nebraska Christian College on Sept. 7. However, it opened up conference play on Sept. 4 with a 6-1 loss at Mount Marty.
Concordia will also play twice next week. It will be at No.14 Bellevue University (Bryan High School in Omaha) on Sept. 17 before coming back home to host Northwestern on Sept. 21.